1. Technical Field
This document relates generally to portable media devices and more particularly to an apparatus for holding a portable media device.
2. Background
The introduction of consumer video formats such as VHS, VHS-C, and mini DV resulted in camcorders becoming much smaller and more available to the general public. Similarly, digital cameras have become much smaller and less expensive, while also increasing resolution and picture quality. The advent of the Internet and video sharing sites such as YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo and photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Picasa make it very easy for people to create and share both still and moving video images. The ability to share photos and video via the Internet has been greatly improved by portable media devices that can both connect to the Internet and record moving images. The most popular of these devices is the Apple iPhone, which is a smart phone and has the ability to record video and take pictures. YouTube has been another beneficiary of the success of the iPhone, with a 1600% increase in mobile uploads since the introduction of the iPhone 3GS for example.
For all the benefits of a portable media device to capture video, these types of devices suffer from several problems. For example, the video produced from these devices is often shaky. This is a result of the size of the devices, the way in which the devices are held (typically in front of the user, using one or two hands), and the light weight nature of the devices. In addition, the audio from these devices is often not high quality and the built in microphones are designed primarily for phone communication. As such, the location and audio characteristics of the microphone are different from a device designed for the purpose of capturing audio from a distance. The lens on many of these devices has a fixed focal length as well. Thus, a user cannot view things at a wide angle perspective or from a telephoto perspective. The video and photo quality may be sufficient when a subject is well-lit (e.g., outdoors or in a well-lit interior), but the quality decreases greatly as the level of light goes down.